not just checked shirts and honky-tonk

Menu

Big brother, small brother.

I spoke on our local radio station today. I was great! You should’ve been there.

People all over County Donegal stopped what they were doing just to hear my words of wisdom. You could’ve heard a pin drop.

There was a lady speaking via phone to the host. She was waiting at her home to be collected by the local police and whisked off to prison. The sentence had been handed down a few days previous. Her crime? She wanted to teach her children at home.

She and her husband have six children. They have home schooled them all so far. The eldest is now 27 and having a successful career, as are the following two. The remaining three children are still at various stages of learning. From what I gathered, the children are taught at home until in around the early teens. After that, they are encouraged to take the next step, which is usually a more specialised form of education.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating and well…so far so good. But…

There is always a but. The department of education (the state) couldn’t just leave it be. Oh no, that would be too much like common sense. They dragged the woman through the courts in an attempt to force her to submit to the state’s system. She refused. And now she is headed for the slammer.

Driving along, listening to the radio, I was so impressed by her version of things that I pulled over and sent a little text message of support into the radio station.

Well, lo and behold, the station phoned me back asking, no begging, me to join in the conversation live on air. I obliged.

The truth is I am not really that hot at public speaking. What I wanted to say came out okay but my heart was going a mile a minute, and my hands were sweating like crazy. Of course the host, being neutral in opinion, didn’t give me an easy ride either. But all in all it went alright .

After the call, I slunk back in my driver’s seat and ran the conversation back in my mind’s ear. Smiling to myself at how knowledgeable I sounded.

Just then, my phone bleeped. It was a text message from my boss, who also happens to be my younger brother. It read as follows : “If you don’t get back to your feckin work soon, you will have plenty of time to home-school your own kids!!!”

Post navigation

20 thoughts on “Big brother, small brother.”

Wow Frankie, your little county is a hotbed of controversy. There are similar rules in the States but one can apply for home schooling approval and meet some standards. Most households have two working parents so it doesn’t work but I honestly feel I’d have done a better job. Gosh! What’s that bright light? Oh, could you turn down your halo please? 😉 that was a wonderful thing you did. Just give baby brother a wedgie. Lol

A couple of years ago she fostered a girl. She went through the process to register that girl for home education, in accordance with the law. The inspector called to the house and gave her the green light.
After that she was harassed about not registering her own kids. But she stood her ground, on principal, as it is not required by law to apply to home school one’s own children.
It is in our constitution that we can home school our kids without permission.
Since Ireland joined the European union we have had all sorts of crazy stuff imposed on us. It was supposed to be simply about trading but…give an inch…